The Chusovaya is one of the few rivers that cuts straight across the Urals, flowing from east to west through the mountains rather than around them, and Chusovoy is the town where it leaves the hills. The river is famous for its cliffs, called boytsy, or fighters, by locals, tall, grey, sometimes vertical walls of limestone and sandstone that rise directly from the water, and in spring, when the snowmelt turns the river fast and high, rafters come from across Russia to run it. In legend, the Cossack leader Yermak began his march into Siberia in 1581 along this river, with a band of men hired by the wealthy Stroganov family, and the memory of that expedition is part of local pride.
The town grew around an ironworks, founded in the nineteenth century, and later became a centre of metallurgy. About fifty thousand people live here, in an industrial landscape of mills and chimneys along the river, but the surroundings are wooded hills, with spruce and pine on the slopes, and the contrast is striking.
The riding is good here. The road from Perm runs east through gentle hills, and past Chusovoy, it follows the river valley with views of cliffs and forest, and the bends become more frequent. The surface is generally fair on the main road, though frost damage and patches are common, and lorries slow the pace. In summer, the weather is warm and humid, with thunderstorms in the afternoon, and in autumn, the forest turns red and gold. Spring floods can cover riverside roads, and winter is long and snowy. For a rider, May to September is the sensible window.
Chusovoy is a convenient place to stop, with several petrol stations, a handful of cafés and hotels, and supermarkets, and it is the last sizeable town before the road heads into the mountains. Lyamino, a village just a few kilometres away, is smaller, with basic shops, so fill up in town. If you plan to raft the river, there are local operators in season.
Go down to the water and look at the cliffs. They are ancient, and the river has been cutting through them for a very long time.